Even as some Iowa Republicans criticize an upcoming mission to recruit in-your-face New Jerseyan Chris Christie for the presidency, one organizer defended it as a way to send a strong endorsement of no-nonsense conservative leadership.

“If we only accomplish one thing, and that is to encourage Chris Christie to maintain his leadership style and to encourage other Republicans to have the same leadership style, we’ll feel very good about the trip,” said Iowa hog and ethanol baron Bruce Rastetter, a prolific contributor to GOP campaigns.

Rastetter and a team of six other Iowa businessmen will fly by private jet Tuesday to meet with Christie, who has steadfastly refused to run but agreed to have dinner with them in the governor’s mansion.

The heavy hitters’ journey is being closely watched by political operatives across the nation who read it as evidence of Republican discontent in the lead-off voting state with the developing field of GOP hopefuls – and a sign that Christie’s resistance might crack.

“I think there will be others in the race, even though they don’t know it today,” said fellow New Jersey native Steve Forbes, a two-time presidential candidate and editor of Forbes business magazine. “You’re looking at an incomplete field.”

Forbes predicted the campaign donors from Iowa won’t lure Christie into the game Tuesday, but that when the New Jersey legislative sessions wraps up at the end of June, he’ll feel “very real pressure.”

“I’m not backing any of the ones in the race right now,” Forbes said in a telephone interview. But he said his eye is on Christie and U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican.

The timing of the Iowa mission, delayed by scheduling snags, comes as the fog begins to lift off the battlefield, and Republicans here are settling in with the existing batch of potential GOP nominees.

The long-unseen Mitt Romney came to town Friday to give Iowans a little love. Michele Bachmann promised to reveal her intentions in her native Waterloo soon. Tim Pawlenty, Ron Paul and Herman Cain will fan out across Iowa this week. And Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich have blanketed the state in recent days.

So are Iowans – well-fed on political discourse delivered with extraordinarily close-up access – feeling content?

“There is not the happy warrior feeling out here. There is fear and trembling out here,” said Mickelson, 61. “The reason Christie has such appeal is the Iowa Republicans are hungry for an alpha politician who will go out and make battle.”

Christie, whose star power was fueled by videos his team posted on YouTube, has been elevated to hero status by conservatives who crave a union-bucking, budget-slashing leader in the White House. He’s seen by some Iowa Republicans as a beefy, Jersey version of John Wayne who demands unflinching reform – and as a corporate candidate that business leaders would like and trust.

State Sen. Rob Bacon, R-Maxwell, said he won’t mind if Christie doesn’t run.

“We don’t need him necessarily,” said Bacon, 56. “We have a great lineup.”

Bacon speculated that a coastal candidate might not fare as well here. “In Iowa, when we hear someone’s from out east, we kind of go, ‘Hmm, that’s nice.’ ”

Some Republicans are outright displeased about the businessmen’s journey. Republican Gopal Krishna, 64, of West Des Moines said he thinks the mission sends the message “that we only cater to certain people and that only certain people run the show.”

“It is the people who elect and the people who vote. Money has a role in politics, but money should not be the governing factor,” Krishna said.

“It’s not up to the big-money donors to decide who they want. It’s for the grassroots to decide who they want,” said Davis, 58. “Governor Christie can stay where he’s at. We need good governors where they’re at, and I’m really not interested in him coming in.”

In response, Rastetter said the seven businessmen aren’t “anointing someone to run.”

“That’s for the people of Iowa and the country to choose,” said Rastetter, 54. “What we believe is important is that we encourage people to participate in the system – in this case to run for president, and in this case come to Iowa.”

Some Iowa Republicans were first exposed to the Christie brand in October, when he stumped for Terry Branstad. But Des Moines lawyer Matt Whitaker, 41, is one of the few who is a personal friend.

Whitaker served as a U.S. attorney at the same time as Christie and points out that the campaign trail isn’t particularly family-friendly. Christie, 48, has four children, all high school-age or younger.

“I don’t think Chris Christie’s running for president,” said Whitaker, who has signed on as chairman of Pawlenty’s Iowa steering committee.

Christie’s chief politics adviser, Mike DuHaime, asked whether the governor has ruled out 2016, answered: “He hasn’t even addressed his own re-election in 2013, so speculation beyond that is way too premature.”

Political guru Doug Gross of Des Moines dismissed Tuesday’s trip as a “fool’s errand.” “He’s not going to run,” he said.

Gross, however, is among Iowans yearning for a fresh face in the race. He visited with advisers to Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels to stress that there was interest in Iowa and a path to do well, if he got in. Daniels later ruled out running, and Gross remains uncommitted to any candidate.

The new name being batted about in Iowa Republican political banter? Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

Chris Christie’s world

Republican Chris Christie has been governor since January 2010 in New Jersey. The state is still wrestling with how to cover promised pensions and health care benefits in future years.

Democrats control both chambers of the state Legislature, but because of redistricting, all 120 seats will be up for election this fall. The redistricting map favored by Democrats was selected.

News snippets

NEWSWEEK, June 24, 2010: “He proposed-and has now passed-an austere budget that reduces school aid by $820 million, drops 1,000 state workers, assumes $50 million in savings from privatization, and skips a $3 billion contribution to the state pension system. He has refused to reinstate a tax on residents earning more than $400,000 a year.”

NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE, Feb. 24, 2011: “Acid monologues like this have made Christie, only a little more than a year into his governorship, one of the most intriguing political figures in America. … Newly elected governors – not just Republicans, Christie says, but also Democrats – call to seek his counsel on how to confront their own staggering budget deficits and intractable unions.”

WASHINGTON POST, April 21, 2011: “While Christie is known nationally as a conservative’s conservative and the first among equals with tea party activists, that’s not really who he is. For example, during a debate over collective bargaining rights for public unions in Wisconsin, Christie notably stopped short of supporting Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s efforts. He also has some more centrist tendencies on curbing illegal immigration, has gotten a handful of Democratic votes for many of his proposals, and has called President Obama an ‘ally’ on education reform. And he voted for a tax increase as a county freeholder in the 1990s and used to support abortion rights.”

POLITICO, May 23, 2011: “The governor of New Jersey is a veritable right-wing heartthrob, inspiring coast-to-coast swoons with his tough talk about teachers unions and his emphasis on cutting government. He’s frequently mentioned by GOP idealists as they describe their ultimate champion. In the runup to the midterms, there was no more powerful Republican campaign surrogate as Christie stumped in a dozen states – meaning there’s now a lot of grateful Republican officeholders across the country. Back in November, Christie famously told reporters, ‘Short of suicide, I don’t really know what I’d have to do to convince you people that I’m not running.'”

Accomplishments

Here are some of Chris Christie’s accomplishments, according to state GOP officials and the New Jersey governor’s office:

– As U.S. attorney in New Jersey from 2002 to 2008, he prosecuted public corruption by both Democrats and Republicans, winning convictions or guilty pleas against 130 public officials without losing a case. He also prosecuted violent gang members, child pornographers and environmental polluters.

– As governor, he capped limited local property tax increases to no more than 2 percent per year.

– In his first year in office, the New Jersey Economic Development Authority handed out $518 million in business incentives and tax credits, and the state provided another $64.8 million in assistance to small businesses.

– He has trumpeted millions in federal spending in New Jersey, saying he secured $39.6 million for a public safety wireless broadband network and $112 million for anti-foreclosure initiatives.

– He required local government public employees to contribute to their medical benefits, which he says meant cities, counties and school districts save $314 million.